Around Mindoro Island (Batangas to San Jose)

By: Yohann
Date:

I already had the chance to go three times to Philippines. The two first time was to visit my friend in Naujan – Mindoro and the third one was to visit the country jumping from a touristic place to another one. These experiences were very different but complementary as I had the opportunity to discover Filipino lifestyle but also some wonderful landscape. However, my first trip remains the most memorable because I spent 2 weeks inside a very nice local family sharing their daily life. I learnt a lot and re-discover some values which have not the same weight in the French society. That is why Mindoro is so special for me and it was obvious that my first cyclo touring trip out of Europe should be there. I have to admit it is not much challenging as it makes an average distance of 50 km a day. However, the challenge was to organize my time to close the island loop, to share some life slice with people met on the way and to visit the surroundings. To keep more than simple souvenirs from this experience, I have documented my travel to highlight Mindoro’s wonders and to introduce Filipino culture. I also edit some short movie to excite people curiosity about Mindoro and give them the envy to make this trip by themselves.

FROM BATANGAS TO PALUAN

Abra port

The first day of my ride around Mindoro didn’t start well. My boat departure for Abra de Ilog was at 4:00 am and because I went to bed a bit late, I tried to optimize my sleep getting up as late as possible. 15 min to get ready + 10 min to reach the pier + 15 min advance on the boat departure, I set my alarm clock at 3:15 am. Everything went smoothly up to the pier but when I tried to purchase my ticket nobody was at the counter, it was already close. I had no other choice to wait for the next boat at 6:00 am. Unfortunately, this one has been cancelled at the last time and I ended in the boat of 8:00 am which actually left at 7:30 am. I used this waiting time to prepare my article, to sort pictures taken during last 2 days and to have an heavy breakfast. The cruse has been pleasant, under a sunny weather and on a quiet sea. I reached Abra de Ilog at 11:30 and started immediately my cycling trip to catch the loss time. The first part of the travel up to Mamburao has been easy because mostly fat, no traffic and the road looks like brand new. Landscape was beautiful, on both side of the road mountains were rising some kilometers away. Due to the summer period, the vegetation color yellow green and most of the river were dried. The second part of trip between Mambaruo and Paluan has been an other story. The road was not anymore paved and its condition was very bad at some places. My average speed drop from 21 to 10 km/hr and I was afraid to damage my bike. What should happened finally occurred, my back tire inner tube got damaged at the valve level without any possibility to repair it. Luckily, I had a spare one with me and I have been able to restart 15 min later. In the meantime whereas I was away from villages, a young man appeared and offered me his help to fix my tire. It has been an interesting interaction because he didn’t speak English but we understood each other about things to be done. I finally reached Paluan at 5:00 pm which is a town located near by the sea and surrounded by mountains. There, I met Demos who has been my host for that night. He immediately proposed me to make a jump to a close resort to have a bath in a natural swimming pool. This was exactly what I needed after a ride in a dusty environment. It has been also the opportunity to meet other Filipinos and to share a drink with them. The resort was beautiful, well integrated in the nature and I had the feeling it was a kind of meeting place for local people willing to spend time together. Then dark dropped and we came back to his accommodation to have our diner: pork adobo, grilled fish and rice. It was already time to go to bed…

Swimming in Paluan Cold Spring

FROM PALUAN TO STA. CRUZ

I got up quite late just before 7:00 am. After having a café with Demos, I went for a ride in Paluan in order to have an overview of the locality. It was also the opportunity to find a spare inner tube to replace the one that I damaged yesterday. I have been to several shop but none of them have tube of  700 mm diameter with Presta valve. So if you come cycling in Philippines ensure to have rim compatible with Schreader valve.  On the way, I met a retired seaman, who manages a petrol station to keep himself busy. He was quite talkative and told me some French sentences which attracted my attention. We started a conversation during which he explained me that he was used to spend time in Le Havre harbor where he met a French lady with who he got a daughter. Unfortunately, things went wrong and he lost contact with her but he keeps a good memory of France ;-). Around 10:30 am, I left Paluan toward Mamburao. I have been very careful on the way to preserve my tires. The road was still rough but no mechanical damage except my bag attaches that suffered a bit. At half way, I made a stop to have a relaxing bath in a fresh river and to remove the dust stuck on my body. I reached Mamburao slightly before 1:00 pm. I had a heavy lunch at the market and then I moved to an internet café for a break before to carry on my way to Santa Cruz. The national road is an easy track for cyclists: good pavement, mostly flat and not too much traffic. Landscape changed slightly, it became less dried, greener and I have been through my first rice paddles. I made several stops on the way to take picture and to enjoy sceneries which were immersed in the evening light. I arrived in Santa Cruz just before sunset where I have been welcome by Chester. Immediately, he introduced me to his family, his group of friend and his neighbors. The contact has been so easy with all of them, it was like being at home… I understood quickly I was very lucky to be hosted among them and this experience would keep one of the most memorable of my stay in Philippines. On the evening, Chester invited me to watch his basketball team game. They were competing for the barangay cup. Basketball is the national sport in Philippines, it drags the crow around the court and the atmosphere becomes suddenly much more lively and noisy. It was quite fun to be sitting in the middle of cheerers and I enjoyed the game. Then we moved to another house to join Chester’s friends and to play cards. They were all very friendly persons, we chatted a lot and I had the chance to listen to them playing live music for hours. I was surfing on a relaxing musical wave! Good things always get an end, we came back to Chester’s house at 1:30 am and I fall asleep immediately but with a big smile.

A DAY BREAK IN SANTA CRUZ

The getup has been hard that morning… going to bed at 1:30 am is something usual when I am in France but not anymore here in Philippines. I was feeling a bit tired to cycle but most of all I didn’t want to leave Chester’s Family so quickly. I requested him if it was possible to extend my stay in Santa Cruz and he spontaneously accepted. After a heavy breakfast including empanada and coconut milk rice, I followed Chester in his morning activities. He was in charge to promote the coming beauty contest of his barangay. For that purpose he has been requested to picture each candidate. Teenagers participating to this election, were in company of their mom and have been specially make up for the occasion. It was funny to look at them walking on their heels and missing to loose their balance at each step due to the lack of practice and the sandy ground. Once his duty has been accomplished it was time to go back home for lunch. We ate fish sinigang and then we relax under the nipa hut for a couple of hours waiting for the temperature to drop down. On the morning, I committed to prepare a French diner to thank them for their kindness. So it was time for me to go to market and purchase all the needed ingredients to make crepes. I wanted to make some salty with a Provencal chicken and some sweet with mango and brown sugar. It is always surprising how difficult it is to find ingredient to cook a foreign dish. It would have took me 20 min to purchase all my stuff in France, but I spent more than an hour and I had to make some compromise due to the impossibility to find some of the ingredients. Once back from my market tour, I started to cook. It seemed they appreciated crepes because plates came back empty ;-). Like the previous day, the evening ended in company of Chester’s friends playing music and chatting. I had to leave them earlier in order to go to bed but this offered me the chance to fall asleep with some guitar rhythms going through my ears.

FROM SANTA CRUZ TO PANDAN ISLAND

As planned, I got up early and I had my last breakfast with Chester’s family. We exchanged our last words, our last goodbyes and it was already time for me to cycle to Sablayan. Landscape located at Santa Cruz’s periphery are characterized by the rice field deep green and by mountains in the background. Few kilometers away the mountains becomes darker and they made me think about chocolates hills which you can observe in Bohol. The difference is: they are higher and you don’t have any possibility to go on top to have an overview. The first half of the way was quiet, no much villages, mostly fields. Some parts of the road are not paved yet but work is on going. There is no more than 5 km rough road so it didn’t have much impact on my average speed which remained above 20 km/hr. After having crossed two big rivers mostly dried, I reach Sablayan north barangay. From this point, I met more people and the atmosphere was livelier. I quickly reached Sablayan from where I asked my way to Pandan Island. Ten minute later, I was at the market place. It was big compare to what I have seen up to now and it was crowded. Grocery, meat, fish, vegetable, cloth, accessory shops were all under the same roof making this place very colorful. People addressed me to a boat man who was on the point to leave to Pandan Island. In fact, they were staff from the resort located on the island and they were doing their tri-weekly stop to market to purchase fresh food and beverage. I joined them on the boat and 30 min latter, I was stepping on a white sand beach with coconut trees and cozy bungalows. This resort has been built more than 30 years ago and it has slowly extend with time. It is a place looking like tropical beaches on postcard located approximately 5 km away from the shore. It is well known for the snorkeling areas located all around the island and for sea turtles which live in surroundings. It is also an excellent starting point to go to Apo Reef, a wonderful diving sanctuary, worldly famous. After having dropped, I immediately went for a snorkeling swim. Within less than 5 min, I met my first turtle. It was peacefully eating grass at the sea bottom and it was absolutely not afraid by my presence. I swam a while with it before seeing some other ones even bigger. Then, I moved to the north extremity of the island to have a look on corals and fishes living among them. Water was clear, light was good, all the best conditions to appreciate the colors of that submarine environment. During my swim, I have seen a multitude of species but also for the first time of my life a sea snake that I manage to capture by video camera before making a sprint to get away from it. I had no idea if it could be dangerous or not. In late afternoon, I went for a short walk in the Island in order to make some pictures. On the return, I met a Swiss with who I sympathized and we had a dink together before going to the buffet for dinner. The restaurant was full with half of Filipinos and half of French, so I forgot my English for a couple of hours and I chatted in my mother tongue. It was already 11pm when I returned to my bungalow. There, I got my second fear of the day (after the sea snake) when I saw few centimeters away from my bed a huge gecko that refused to get away from my room. It made me things, about a similar experience, some years ago with my sister in Bali, when she faced a big gecko in the bathroom. She shouted so loudly that guesthouse owner rushed immediately to the room to check what was on going. The story ended with a broom to chase away the lizard but in my case, I resigned myself to spend the night with my new companion.

ONE DAY BREAK IN PANDAN ISLAND AND SABLAYAN

On the morning, my gecko friend was not anymore with me… but I didn’t feel sad. I took the opportunity to get some free time to make a big washing machine and I started to pack everything in view of the checkout at 11:00 am. Before leaving Pandan Island I wanted to visit a last time the turtles who settle few meters away from the sea shore. I took my mask, my tuba and I jump in the water. The sea was stronger than yesterday and the visibility not as good. I turned around looking for the turtle but before finding them two trigger fishes found me. Immediately, I got the souvenir of my sister and her boyfriend who have been attacked by one of them while we were snorkeling in Borneo’s waters. I got a bit panic and started to move my legs as stronger as possible to make them afraid. They didn’t care about all the energy that I was spending to keep them away and they carried on to follow me aggressively. I gave up and I decided to return to the shore. Then I took my lunch, grilled tuna + vegetable noddle soup, and I just relaxed on the beach waiting for my return boat. At 3:30pm, I was in Sablayan. I found a quiet place where I took some time to make a complete revision of my bike and I cleaned it to remove the salt in order to avoid corrosion. Then I went to the main plaza where I had my appointment with Melanie. While I was waiting for her, I had a private lesson to learn how to make Halo-Halo which is a refreshing Filipino dessert with pilled ice, condensed milk and a lot of colorful ingredient. I had just finished to shoot a short movie about this Filipino delight when Melanie and her friends arrived. First, I followed them at the market to do the daily purchases and then we went on top of a small hill called Perola to have an overlook on Sablayan bay and to observe the sunset. Latter, Melanie, Vhon and her daughter joined me for diner. We shared a Bulalo as well as a dessert similar with the French “crème brulée”.  After our meal, Vhon proposed me to follow her to a family celebration without giving me additional details. I accepted and I ended among a group of 20 persons having fun. Some were playing lotteries, others were playing cards and everybody was speaking loudly. I started to discuss with some of them, to introduce myself, to learn about them when somebody asked me: “Do you want to see the departing?”.  It was at that time that I understood these person were together in the memory of their relative who just passed away few days ago. I was astonished, so much happiness whereas circumstances were so sad. I got the feeling they made their mourning in a few days and life was moving on so they were behaving like another day. I shared my condolences with the departing’s husband and I returned with Vhon for a last chat. It was already time for me to leave them in order to have at least 6 hours sleep before my departure to San Jose.

FROM SABLAYAN TO SAN JOSE

I took the bad habit to get up later and later. Consequently, I have started cycling at 8:00 toward San Jose. The landscape was similar with what I have seen previously but the mountains were farther. All this area looked quite dry and it should be linked with the fact we were reaching the summer end. I would say that 10% of the road were unpaved and the surface quality was not homogeneous. I had to fight to keep a 20km/hr average speed. Finally, I arrived at San Jose around 1:30 pm. I was feeling tired and I was counting kilometers before reaching my target. After a quick ride through the town, I decided to have my lunch break on the main plaza. It was a lively place with kid gardens and a lot of small shop around. Cheryl, my San Jose host, came to meet me at the restaurant with her daughter Monica. We introduced each other, the contact has been easy, and half an hour later I followed them to their house where I met her son Kenet. I rested a bit and used this opportunity to update my diary. I was still feeling tired and I appreciated to have some time for myself. Then we went for a walk along the beach during the sunset. A lot of kids were playing on the beach. One of their favorite game was to catch small crabs running on the sand or to jump from the ponton making backflip. It has been a relax walk perfect to improve my sunset pictures skills. It has also been the opportunity to learn more about this split family because Chery’s husband is working at Hong Kong. On the way back, we observed see man preparing their boat for the night fishing and we went to have our diner in a sea front restaurant. There, Monica made me the demonstration that at 6 years old it is possible to eat as much as an adult. Two rices and half a chicken latter, She was still feeling OK to end her meal with a balut (Egg with a baby chicken inside). It was time for us to go back home and I heavily fall asleep within a second.